Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 May 1884 — FALLACIES OF PROTECTION. [ARTICLE]

FALLACIES OF PROTECTION.

We desire to notice briefly the fallacies urged iu support of a protective tariff. 1. Its advocates tell u» that high duties ‘protect’ American labor, and cause workingmen in protected industries to receive good wages. We could argue with an equal amount of logic that night always follows day and therefore day is the causa of mghl. But the fact ia ‘protection’ can not, causo good wages, neither can day cause night. We have demonstrated ia r, previous article that the chief object of protection is to enabl the home manufacturer to sell his goods at an artificial price, but does the manulacturor pay any of this extra money to his laboref sin the form of wages? Not at all He hires his laborers just as cheap as he can get them. If competent laborers were to bid down on the pr ceef each •there wages until lie could hire them at 25 cents per day, he would be foolish if he gave them more than that although he were making 100 per cent profit per month on his owr investments. It is a notorious fact that strikes Accur oftener in protected industries than anywhere else on accouat of the low wages paid.— Whenever the laborers do strike for higher vages the manufacturer can easily supply their places with a ship load of foreign workingmen if he chooses to do so. The native laborer is not ‘protected’ by any duty on foreign workingmen as his employe is on goods of his own manufacture. Yet the very men who favor the highest protective duties on toreign goods, maintain that the (Chinese and other cheap laborers should come in thousands to this country. The per cent of increase in the wages of lab Ter* hue been much lose under ‘protection' tli x i) uno. i cm., pnr.-.t . n free .rude, which *e enjo, ed ft• •iu 16. Jlo 1861, On the other baud ‘pioiectioii* decrease* the laborers wages because it lessen* the purchasing power of the dollar by increasing the cost of the necessities of life Free trade tends to increase wage*. John Bright is good authority for the statement that the wages of English laborer* have increased 25, and in some cases 50 per cent, under free trade. They are now 100 per cent, higher than in Germany and other European countries that have protective systems. Again, the United states census of 18so demonstrated that 94 per cent, of the laborers <>f this country are engaged in iigrit uhure and other kinds o 1 labor, whereas l (i per cent, vnly are engaged in protected industries. J ; a high tariff could benefit worn men in

protected industries il is wiong for a government to legislate in favor of six per cent, of its laborers at ilie expense of 94 per cent., by imposing outrageously high tariff taxes tor their benefit onlv. I. A second fallacy of •protection* is that it enlarges our ‘home market,’ A market is made up of buyers with cask or its equivalent in their hands. A bigget home Loniket consists of more domestic buyers wttn ready pay in their hands. How cau protection accomolisli this?— Car. it do it by increasing the number of births or diminishing the number of deaths in a given yertod in .my country? Ocriatnly not. Again, a comparison of data will show that our home market was much larger during our oomparative free trade era thau it has been since under •protection.’ 3 'lha protectionists .claim that high tariff is necessary to lb* existence of American manufacturing industries, or in other worus lue people must act as a sort of wet nurse for them by submitting to be roundly taxed lor their support, — The assumption is that a people can not prosper unless heayily lax*d, This is Very unreasonable It is a well-known fact that duriag the period of our colh-v mal history mauujactuies sprung up and grew very rapidly without a protective tariff to favor them One of tin; chief causes of their war lor independence w»* the restrictions which the mother country wanted to place on their commerce (Jan it be possible that we are not as well piepared ndw to maaulactuie as we were ' then? The three things necessaay for manufacturing are capital, material and labor Capital is as cheap here as in any other country j Raw material is as cheap, perhaps cheaper than iu •fe.uropean countries, because manyjjof themjiuiport much raw cotton and other material for manufacturing purposes, whereas we do 1 *tdo that Labor I'orm3 about onefllili of th* cost of manufactured articies in tilts coumry In ioreigu countries it is from onefcthird to on««hait cheuoey than this, but this trifle is mad • up bycost at ocean transportation paid by tue foreigner Hence we conclude that tlie United States are as well prepared for manufacturing as any country in the' world, and do not need the fostering care of a high tariff in order to succeed 4 Perhaps,the shallowest fallacy that the protectionists have yet advanced is, that free trade would ilobd our markets with cheap foreign goods, and that 'pros .tection* is the only barrier against this destructive flood Thu advocutes of tuis theory have every reason to be afraid of ‘floods’ Their house is built on sand or they would not fear them Such a fallacy is scarcely worth noticing This counlry can be Hooded with cheap foreign goodsgoniy by flooding foreign countries with our own cheap goods Foieigneis a f d not goiug tp give away itieir goods jf they desire to do this we would b„

quite foolish indeed if we did not aeoept all they wonld give us Foreigners are undeubtedly ieadv for an exchange of goods with ua An exchange of commodities would be a <>ititn«! benefit to both parties, or r J-»- there would be no mol've for tie.- :r idt- 1s a sort of argument is a conie«udo • by the protectionist that a iich tariff '* a b • > ir.u .ml ; ;at it makes things “a t <•> u;. a fon.lru s.- for scarcity and a. terror in view oi nbnud :• *-e 1 1 eefesse-- Unit free trade won .! m.-.i e ft.| i». e,i » : . — v «.-i y clan, ,a-:!ej • U •to:> •